sistent with his holiness and truth, to pardon the vilest offenders who should trust in his name, in all future ages. Therefore there was no voice, arrest, or interposition from the heavenly world -thus he must be tormented, thus he must be scorned and suspended as a spectacle to angels and to men, till he had paid the full price of redemption, and could say, "It is finished." Then, and not till then, he bowed his head, and breathed out his spirit into his Father's hands. There were, however, attestations to his dignity, in this his lowest state. He showed, by his gracious answer to the penitent malefactor, that he had still authority upon earth to forgive sin, and to save to the uttermost; and the sun withdrew his light, and the rocks rent, though daring sinners derided and mocked.

III. The bulk of the people bore their part in this tragedy through precipitation and ignorance. In his prayer for their forgiveness (a prayer which was signally answered after his ascension), he mentioned the only extenuation their wickedness could possibly admit, They knew not what they did. It was otherwise with those who were principally concerned in procuring his death. Long before, when they could not deny the reality of his miracles, they ascribed them to the agency of Beelzebub. By this malicious, wilful opposition to the strongest evidence of fact, against the conviction of their own minds, and by their violent, determined rejection of his mission, they committed the unpardonable sin. They spoke and sinned against the Holy Spirit. This sin no one can have committed, while he is fearful lest he has committed it; for it essentially consists in a deliberate and wilful refusal of the only means of salvation. It is the sign of final, absolute impenitence. They who had thus ascribed his mira

cles to Beelzebub, expressed the same height of enlightened malice against him in his dying agonies, and there was a poignancy in their insults, of which the ignorant multitude were not capable.

1. They reproached his great design for which he came into the world: "He saved others, him"self he cannot save."* How different is the force of the same words, according to the intention of the speaker! When they said, "His blood "be upon us, and upon our children;"† they spoke the very language of the hearts of those who love him, and who derive all their hopes, and all their happiness, from the application of his blood to their consciences. But, to themselves," it proved the most dreadful imprecation. So, it will be the grateful acknowledgement of his people in time and to eternity, that when he was resolved to save them, the difficulties in the way were so great, that neither his prayers, nor his tears, nor his unspotted innocence, could prevail to save himself. But for this, his love to sinners, his enemies reviled him. Nor would they have ́ offered to believe if he would come down from the cross, had they supposed there was the least probability of such an event; for they had often rejected evidence equal to what they now demanded.

2. They reproached him for his trust and confidence in God. He had said, that "God was "his own Father:" and they understood him to use the expression in so high a sense, as thereby to make himself equal with God. Had they misunderstood him, had he not really intended what they laid to his charge, surely he would have explained himself. This was the very ground of their proceeding against him before the council,

* Matt. xxvii. 42. + Matt. xxvii. 25.

John, v. 18. idior.

and the formal reason of the sentence of death they

pronounced against him. to the testimony of the

How often did he appeal Scriptures, and of John, whom they durst not but acknowledge to have been a prophet, and to his own mighty works, in support of his claim? But having fastened him. upon the cross, they triumphed, and unwittingly expressed their exultation, in the very words which David had foretold should be used to MESSIAH. So exactly were the Scriptures fulfilled by those who used their utmost endeavours to evade them, and to prevent their accomplishment. But what is all this to us? It is It is very much to us. Christ could suffer but once, yet we read of those "who crucify him afresh." His Gospel represents his personal ministry, declares his character, reveals his love, produces the same effects in those who receive it, and they who oppose it are considered as opposing him, and are influenced by the same spirit which instigated the unbelieving Jews. It is to be hoped that many reject and scorn it, as the multitude did of old, through ignorance; and that the intercession of him, who prayed for those that knew not what they did, will prevail for their conversion. Whenever their eyes are opened, "they will be pricked to the heart,"* and will then gladly inquire of those whom now they despise, What they must do to be saved? But it is to be feared, there are in Christian countries many persons who too nearly resemble the spirit and conduct of the Jewish rulers; whose opposition proceeds from rooted enmity to the truth, persisted in against light that has sometimes forced upon their minds, and who, though convinced, will not be persuaded. They who despise, calumniate, and scorn the believers of the Gospel, would * Acts, ii. 37.

certainly offer the like treatment to the Author of it, if he was within their reach. They are ill-treated for his sake, and he considers it as an affront to himself. Thus he said to Saul of Tarsus, when breathing out threatenings against his disciples, "Why persecutest thou me?" They who reject his ministers, reject him.* They who speak disdainfully of his dying himself to save others; they who reproach or ridicule the humble confidence of his people; who censure and revile their hopes and comforts derived from his good word, as enthusiasm or hypocrisy; who have no compassion for their distresses, but rather wound them as with a sword in their bones, saying unto them, Where is now your God?"† are certainly treading, if not altogether with equal vehemence, in the footsteps of the Jewish rulers.-May the Lord in mercy show them the danger of their path, and give them a timely apprehension of the destruction to which it leads! that they may humble themselves to his will, implore his pardon, espouse his cause, and experience the comforts and privileges of that Gospel which they have hitherto reviled and scorned.

66

250

SERMON XXII.

MESSIAH UNPITIED, AND WITHOUT COMFORTER.

PSAL. Ixix. 20.

Reproach [Rebuke] hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

THE greatness of suffering cannot be certainly estimated by the single consideration of the immediate apparent cause; the impression it actually makes upon the mind of the sufferer must likewise be taken into the account. That which is a heavy trial to one person, may to another be much lighter, and perhaps no trial at all. And a state of outward prosperity, in which the eye of a by-stander can see nothing wanting to happiness, may be, and I doubt not often is, a state of torment to the possessor. On the other hand, we know that the consolations with which it has sometimes pleased God to cheer his suffering servants, have enabled them to rejoice in the greatest extremities. They have triumphed upon the rack, and while their flesh was consuming by the fire. The Lord has had many followers, who, for his sake, have endured scourgings, and tortures, and terrible deaths, not only without reluctance or dismay, but without a groan. But he himself was terrified, amazed, and filled with anguish, when he suffered for us. Shall we say, The disciples, in such cases, have been superior to their Master; when yet they acknowledged that they derived all their strength and resolution from him! This difference cannot be